Five JD-U MPs resign over MNS attacks

National,Politics,
Fri, 07 Nov 2008IANS

New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS) Five Lok Sabha members from the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) resigned from their seats Friday in protest against the attacks on north Indians in Mumbai by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

The five MPs are Prabhunath Singh, Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan', Kailash Baitha, Meena Singh and George Fernandes. Most of the JD-U MPs are from Bihar, whose natives have been targeted by the MNS in Maharashtra.

Led by Prabhunath Singh, leader of the JD-U parliamentary party, the MPs handed over their resignations to P.D.T. Acharya, the Lok Sabha secretary general. The resignations would be handed over to Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as soon he gets well. Chatterjee is ill with chest congestion and is in hospital.

The JD-U leaders had alleged that people were playing 'vote bank politics' over the attacks in Maharashtra and that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has become 'inactive' and was working under the pressure of central minister Sharad Pawar, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The NCP along with the Congress lead the ruling coalition in Maharashtra and have been accused of not doing enough to contain last month's violence by the MNS against non-Maharashtrians, particularly those from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.